Dive Brief:

• Green Cow Power has built two anaerobic digesters at its Goshen, IN facility, which will convert organic wastes to energy, producing enough biogas to power three 1,050-kilowatt engines. The leftover liquid will be used as a crop fertilizer.
• The facility is using two-stage mixed plug flow digesters from Chilton, WI-based DVO Inc., with a combined capacity of five million gallons.
• 80% of what will feed into the digesters is off-farm organic waste, such as food processing, while 20% is dairy manure.

Dive Insight:

Anaerobic digesters are becoming somewhat familiar on Midwestern landscapes like Goshen, and like Reynolds Town, IN, where Green Cow Power co-owner Brian Furrer also operates BioTown Ag, home to three DVO digesters.

The movement to reduce organic wastes, especially food waste, is not simply spreading from a few states to a few more — It is becoming a national objective.  As states and businesses push to cut organic wastes, companies from California to Connecticut have plans for anaerobic digestion facilities.

Companies are also becoming more focused on how to specifically use animal waste as a resource. In Millsburg, PA, Mr. Ellie Pooh is using recycled elephant waste to make paper. Additionally, the Denver Zoo has been looking for ways to use animal dung in waste-to-energy efforts.